EAST LANSING — The most exciting players on the football field in Michigan State's annual Green-White game at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Spartan Stadium could be the backup quarterbacks, Tyler O'Connor and Damion Terry.

Neither pose a threat to take the starting job from Rose Bowl and Big Ten championship game MVP Connor Cook — Spartans coach Mark Dantonio has made that clear throughout spring drills.

But O'Connor and Terry are competing for the No. 2 quarterback job, and both are players who are effective running the football when plays break down, leading to action-filled sequences.

Dantonio, however, has not made it clear if he will allow his defense to tackle the young quarterbacks at the public scrimmage.

"I guess there's always a chance, it depends on how they are playing and what's going on,'' Dantonio said on Monday's "Drive with Jack Ebling" radio show on Lansing's The Game 730 AM." I always tell our guys they aren't live but they are active. I guess you read between the lines a little bit.''

Reading between the lines, that would sound as though the quarterbacks will need to be wrapped up before an early whistle blows, which is how Dantonio has defined "active" in past media settings.

The idea of going "active" instead of "live" is to lessen the chance of injury, although it's worth noting that former quarterback Andrew Maxwell was injured in a closed scrimmage two years ago when the situation was deemed "active" and not "live.''

Wrapping up a player running at full speed can be awkward for both the offensive player and the defensive player attempting to make the tackle.

Dantonio is still mulling over whether or not he needs to see more live action from O'Connor and Terry before determining who the No. 2 QB is heading into fall camp.

Dantonio has said he wants 50,000 to attend the Green-White game, but that likely won't affect his decision on the quarterbacks.

"We'll see how the game is going,'' Dantonio said. "I do want it (Green-White game) to be something where you could look at it, and it could bring value to your evaluations. So you can look at the game and say there's value to watching this, it's not just a watered down practice.''

Terry said earlier this spring he's hoping Dantonio turns him loose and allows him to be tackled in the scrimmage, though he's aware that his head coach is conscientious of the fact that Michigan State has only three scholarship quarterbacks heading into the season.

The Spartans had all three quarterbacks live in last year's Green-White game, as Dantonio deemed that necessary while trying to decide on a starting quarterback.

Based on his interview on Monday, Dantonio's decision on whether to make his backup quarterbacks live for this Saturday's scrimmage could be a game-time decision.

(Mike Griffith is the co-host on The Drive with Jack Ebling on Fridays from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m.)